Illicit Discharge

An illicit discharge is defined as any discharge to a storm sewer that is not composed entirely of stormwater.

Illicit discharges can enter the system through either direct connections (e.g. wastewater piping either mistakenly or deliberately connected to the storm drains) or indirect connections (e.g., infiltration into the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) from cracked sanitary systems, spills collected by drain outlets, or paint or used oil dumped directly into a drain). The result is untreated discharges. Illicit discharges may be continuous or intermittent. Intermittent discharges tend to be discharged only when carried by a storm event while continuous illicit discharges often flow during dry weather.

What can I do to help?Make sure nothing but rain washes off your street, sidewalk and driveway! Whatever goes into the street, washes down the storm drain and ends up in our lakes and rivers.